What If? : Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers

by Bernays, Anne

• ISBN13: 9780062720061
• ISBN10: 0062720066
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-14
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

What If? is the first handbook for writers based on the idea that specific exercises are one of the most useful and provocative methods for mastering the art of writing fiction. With more than twenty-five years of experience teaching creative writing between them, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter offer more than seventy-five exercises for both beginners and more experienced writers. These exercises are designed to develop and refine two basic skills: writing like a writer and, just as important, thinking like a writer. They deal with such topics as discovering where to start and end a story; learning when to use dialogue and when to use indirect discourse; transforming real events into fiction; and finding language that both sings and communicates precisely. What If? will be an essential addition to every writer's library, a welcome and much-used companion, a book that gracefully borrows a whisper from the muse.

Table of Contents

Beginnings

Notebooks, Journals, and Memory

Characterization

Perspective, Distance, and Point of View

Dialogue

Plot

The Elements of Style

A Writer's Tools

Invention and Transformation

Story Elements and forms as a Given

Revision: Rewriting is Writing

Games

Learning from the Greats

A Collection of Short Fiction

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.